Life of a Killer by Antonin Dolohov
by Prongsie
Summary: Antonin Dolohov is one of Azkaban's most notorious and dangerous prisoners. He was imprisoned in Azkaban Fortress for a wide range of crimes, including multiple counts of Muggle torture and the murders of the Prewitt brothers. Chapter 3 now up
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: *points at JKR* most of its hers  
  
A/N: Thanks to Ashley for Beta reading and the others at The Pen for putting up with me.  
  
LIFE OF A KILLER BY ANOTONIN DOLOHOV  
  
Antonin Dolohov is one of Azkaban's most notorious and dangerous prisoners. A Death Eater by the age of sixteen, Dolohov was eventually captured in 1981 after the fall of the Dark Lord. He was imprisoned in Azkaban Fortress for a wide range of crimes, including multiple counts of Muggle torture and the murders of the Prewitt brothers.  
  
Dolohov escaped during the mass breakout of January 1996, only to be recaptured six months later in an attempted invasion of the Ministry of Magic. Once again, Dolohov escaped Azkaban in 1997 and was at large until the eventual defeat of the Dark Lord in 1998. Since then he has remained imprisoned in the Fortress. Here is his story.  
  
INTRODUCTION  
  
Azkaban prison, how I hate this place. More so now than ever. Now the Dementors are gone, and we are guarded by the Aurors and specially trained Hit Wizards, at least until the Ministry finds an alternative. The effect of the Dementors is no longer, but then, they were never such a problem to me. Yes, I felt their presence, but my determination to escape and rejoin the Dark Lord, along with knowing that I had remained loyal to him and my fellow Death Eaters, kept me somewhat sane during my first stretch in Azkaban, while the Dementors were still around. I always had the feeling that Lord Voldemort would rise again, and then it would only be a matter of time before I was free. The Dementors tended to feed on the weak first, as it is easy for them, and I was always relatively strong during their rule of Azkaban.  
  
No longer are my happy memories and hopes sucked from me, but I feel worse now in that I no longer have any hopes at all. The Dark Lord has fallen; we can not rejoin him and as much as I hated the Dementors, with them around there was always a chance of escape. The Fortress is now more heavily guarded by charms and locks than ever before, and there is no hope of the Aurors ever being persuaded to free us as the Dementors were.  
  
So here I am for the rest of my life, locked in this tiny cell.  
  
CHAPTER ONE - THE BEGINNING  
  
Considering where and how I grew up, it's probably surprising that I ended up choosing the path in life that I did. My parents were purebloods, but our family wasn't rich like a lot of the pureblood families were, and so I grew up on a Muggle street in a rough area, in the east end of London. We weren't poor to the extent of not being able to afford new robes and such, but we definitely weren't rich. My father had a fondness for Muggles and I was always encouraged to mix with them. I was an only child and every kid needs someone to play with. I didn't know the difference in those days. All I knew was that my mother used to tell me that under no circumstances was I to mention magic or anything magical around my friends.  
  
So most days I would be out in the street, playing with the other kids. I learnt a lot out in those streets. A lot of activity went off there, and I got my first glimpse of the criminal underworld. Fair enough - it was the Muggle underworld, and Muggle crimes, but it gave me a taste for the life. It was the 1960's and organised crime was at its peak; gangsters ran every part of the east end. If nothing else, I learnt the most important rule. It's something I still stick by today: No matter what, you trusted each other, and you didn't grass anyone up. It's known by Muggles as 'honour amongst thieves'. A number of the future Death Eaters could have done with learning this.  
  
Officially, I attended the local Muggle school, because my parents thought it would be good for me. I didn't go regularly though. None of the kids did; we much preferred to hang around the streets causing trouble. There was always something uncouth going off in our street: somebody trying to sell stolen goods, or a fight of some sort, whether between gangs of kids or between the adults. The Muggle police were a common sight as well, always looking for someone or something.  
  
However, by the time I was due to start Hogwarts at the age of eleven, I was becoming tired of the Muggles. I was starting to resent having to keep quiet about the magical world of which I was so looking forward to becoming a part. I was beginning to see how useless and pathetic Muggles were. I didn't want to mix with them any more. I was gradually coming to hate these kids who I had been friends with, and after I started school they came to hate me as well. When I returned home that first Christmas holidays, none of the kids on the street would talk to me -- not that I wanted to have anything to do with them by then anyway. But they had rejected me for going away to school, and this only reinforced my dislike of them.  
  
My first day at Hogwarts was like a dream. I'd grown up with magic of course, but for the first time, I didn't have to hide what I was, as I was surrounded completely by magical people. At least I thought I was, until I overheard a girl saying that her parents were non-magical and the first she had heard of Hogwarts was when she had received her letter. We were standing outside the Great Hall, waiting to go in and be sorted, and what this girl said hit me as wrong. Muggles shouldn't be here; this was the magical world. A place away from Muggles. How could someone who didn't know anything about magic ever be as good as someone who had grown up with it, someone with pure blood?  
  
I was sorted into Slytherin House that day. I soon learned that Slytherin was the purest of the houses, as it was very rare for a student who wasn't pureblood to get in. This pleased me, as I was sick of Muggles by now and didn't want to be with them any more. I was glad that my new house mates were almost definitely all magical.  
  
I soon became friends with the other boys in my dorm: Cade Travers, Evan Rosier, and my soon to be best friend, Rodolphus Lestrange. Evan and Cade were with me the day I got captured. Unfortunately, Evan never made it to Azkaban - he went down fighting, got killed by one of the Aurors. Cade was taken into Azkaban along with me. Rodolphus, like I said, was my best friend. We were inseparable and the trouble makers of our group. Partners in crime, some would say. We were always concocting some plan or other, always getting into trouble and dragging the others down with us most of the time as well.  
  
We made friends with some of the older students as well. Lucius Malfoy was the unofficial leader of our little group, mainly because he was two years older than the rest of us, apart from Rabastan. Lucius was kind of like an older brother to me really, looked out for us all. Stan was Rod's brother. He was the sensible one and got us out of trouble most of the time. He had this way of convincing the professors; he was trustworthy. Between them, Malfoy and Stan took charge of us. It was some kind of unspoken rule that anything we planned had to be authorised by one of them first.  
  
So there was the six of us, for the most part, and we eventually became very interested in the Dark Arts, especially once rumours of the Dark Lord started circulating. The Dark Arts took our interest far more than any of our lessons ever did. Once our interest in this was known around the Slytherin common room, we soon recruited more members to our gang, Severus Snape being one of them. He knew more about the Dark Arts when he started at Hogwarts than the rest of us put together, even though he was two years younger than me. We were very keen to get him with us; he excelled at Potions, which provided very useful to us.  
  
The Black sisters were ever present in our lives. Whether this was because of the appeal of the Dark Arts or the appeal of certain members of our group, I'm not sure. I suspect the former for Bellatrix and the latter for Narcissa. Lucius and Narcissa were together from the age of fifteen - their fifth year at Hogwarts, my third. I imagine there was always something between them. The Malfoys and the Blacks were family friends, and like most of the noble pureblood families, the children were expected to marry into one of the other noble pureblood families. I never really had much to do with her, really. I tolerated her because of her relationship with Lucius, but that was all. She always seemed to look down on the rest of us like we weren't good enough - me especially, as I didn't have the rich upbringing that she did.  
  
Bellatrix, however, was different from her sister. She was a tall, pretty girl, a year younger than us. She had long dark hair and stunning eyes that could mesmerize you from the other side of the room. I think every one of us had a thing for Bella at some point; you couldn't help but find her attractive. Well, maybe not so much Lucius, but the rest of us definitely did. Rodolphus ended up marrying Bella, an arrangement that had been planned by both of their parents since they were small children.  
  
For the first few years of school, our hatred of the non-pure students was nothing more than taunting and teasing in the corridors around Hogwarts, an occasional hex here and there on students we especially disliked. However, by my third year, things were starting to change. Severus, then a first year, had a particular dislike of two certain Gryffindor students who would often be the cause of most disputes. James Potter and Sirius Black . . . how Snape hated them. I never had a particular problem with them, myself. They were both purebloods, and although they were both obviously against the Dark Arts, I preferred to target my dislike towards the Mudbloods and half bloods. I never worked out the full story of why Snape hated Potter and Black so much, except that it got worse as the years went on. Bella was Sirius's cousin, and she shared Snape's hate of him as well. Sirius hadn't fitted in with the rest of the Black family, and eventually he left the Black house and never spoke to Bella, Narcissa or his brother Regulus again. The Blacks were well known for being true purebloods. They were all for the purification of the wizarding race, and Bella's dear cousin objected to this and showed it. He was a complete blood traitor, and people actually thought he was Voldemort's most loyal servant. When I first heard that, I took it as an insult to the rest of us.  
  
Our initial interest in the Dark Arts stemmed largely from Evan. His brother was about six years older than us, and in his final year at Hogwarts the year we started. He joined the Dark Lord not long after he left school and was soon sending Evan regular owls about what he was doing. We were all interested to hear what was going on. When a letter arrived we would all meet in our dorm to listen to what he had to say. We all agreed that we wanted to join as soon as we could.  
  
Lucius and Stan left school and were soon joining up with the Dark Lord. Rod and I could hardly wait until we left school and could join ourselves. In the mean time, we took over the running of the group of Slytherins who were interested in the cause. We were gradually increasing in number now, as more and more people were becoming aware of what the Dark Lord was doing. The ones who stand out in my mind are Regulus Black, Bella's younger cousin, and his friend, Barty Crouch. I always got the impression that Reg only became involved with the cause to impress Bella and the rest of his family. Reg always tried to live up to his family's expectations, though he ultimately failed. Barty Crouch was an unlikely member of the group but probably one of the most enthusiastic. His father worked for the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It was his job to capture the Dark Lord's followers, which only made Barty keener to become one. He hated his father, and this was one way of showing it.  
  
Every member of our group eventually joined the Dark Lord in some way. Some with more success than others. The lucky ones ended up here in Azkaban, the less fortunate ended up dead. All for Lord Voldemort's cause, all for the purity of the wizarding race that we all so strongly believed in. 


	2. Joining the Dark Lord

Chapter Two – Joining the Dark Lord  
  
The fact that we were silent said it all really. It wasn't a trait we were known for, being quiet. We stood in a cold, dark room; Rodolphus was leaning his back against one of the bare walls, trying his best to look calm and collected, though I knew he was anything but. I walked around the small room, desperate to take my mind away from what was about to happen. The room, however, provided no distraction, as it was completely empty apart from us.  
  
I was feeling a mixture of excitement and anticipation with a good helping of nerves thrown in as well. My stomach was churning and I felt physically sick. This was the moment we had been anticipating for the past four years. At last, we were going to meet him.  
  
The crash of a door opening brought me back down to earth. I can vividly remember the image of a figure standing in the doorway, disguised by a black cloak and hood. An image I would soon become used to. This time, however, was the first I had seen a Death Eater dressed like this, and although I had known about the masks they wore, I hadn't been prepared for it. I later found out that new recruits never were told the identities of the other Death Eaters until they had proved themselves trustworthy. Some never found out the identities of all the others at all; it all depends how far up the hierarchy you go.  
  
I could hear Rod breathing heavily beside me, obviously feeling as apprehensive as I was. We even laughed about it afterwards. The hooded figure motioned for us to follow and, with a slightly anxious glance at each other, we both walked slowly across the room. Knowing that room now, it must have taken all but a few seconds to reach the doorway, but at the time it felt as if hours passed in those few steps. The Death Eater led us through a maze of corridors all as cold and dark as the room we had just left. I couldn't have even remembered the exact route we took even if I tried, but now I know this was the desired effect. The room we had left was, in fact, on the same corridor as the one we arrived at some ten minutes later. The tour through the manor was just to disorientate any potential spies.  
  
The Death Eater showed us into the room, which was much the same as the other one, only larger. "Wait here," he said gruffly. To this day, I never found out for sure who this Death Eater was. No one ever does. There is no particular reason behind this; it's just some kind of in-joke. I believe it was Augustus Rookwood we met that day, but I can't be certain. It was weeks after that I met Gus for the first time officially, so it was hard to tell, but thinking back to that voice, it certainly sounded like him. Gus was a good man, very clever. For years he worked in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry, spying for our side. It was only because of a certain person thinking that saving his own skin was more important than anything else that Gus got caught and sent to Azkaban. Gus's presence in the Ministry certainly helped us on many occasions. He was able to find out information we would have never been able to get hold of otherwise.  
  
The Death Eater left us again in the new room. "So now what?" Rodolphus had said to me in a hushed voice, as if someone might be listening. I shrugged nonchalantly, but before I had time to answer, the door opened again. Two more hooded Death Eaters -- again, never identified -- entered and stood either side of the door. They were followed by a tall dark-haired man who had a certain presence about him.  
  
Lord Voldemort.  
  
He stopped directly in front of us and looked us up and down, as if inspecting us. I remember Rod looking distinctly like a fish, his mouth wide open. I looked back at the Dark Lord in awe, feeling decidedly shabby when I saw his stunning black robes with silver trim. If I had admired him before, it was nothing to how I felt now. It went beyond respect and admiration. I wanted to be exactly like him, starting with some flashy robes. I swore to myself right there and then that I would be one of Lord Voldemort's top men. I would walk by his side, be involved in the decision- making and planning. He would know exactly who I was and call me by my first name. Without him even speaking, I was ready to dedicate my life to Lord Voldemort and his cause. I was prepared to die for it if necessary.  
  
And this was exactly what the Dark Lord wanted us to do; he wanted us to be willing to do anything, including dying. Every Death Eater had to swear to this, as Rodolphus and I did that day. Although now I realize how few of us would have actually stuck to this if it was necessary. Maybe only a dozen or so of us. Not that I think the others didn't mean it at the time, but now I doubt they would have gone through with it. Most couldn't even face Azkaban, and talked their way out of it by saying they were being forced under the Imperious curse. Others, like Karkaroff, preferred grassing up the rest of us rather than face Azkaban. All of the Dark Lord's most devoted servants either went to Azkaban or died for the cause.  
  
Lord Voldemort spoke to us briefly, asking who we were and what we thought of the cause. I was relieved he never asked about my parents, as I had no idea what I would have said if he had. Either he already knew or he didn't care; I never really found out.  
  
Someway or other, we must have impressed him because after only a short time, he told us we would still have to prove ourselves despite the fact we were already friends with Malfoy, Stan and a few others. This wasn't news to us; we had certainly expected it, so we both nodded dumbly. With a satisfied looking smile, the Dark Lord turned and left the room without so much as another word. The two Death Eaters who had remained silent throughout followed, closing the door behind them.  
  
We looked at each other, confused. Was that it? Did we stay here, or were we supposed to go now? After realizing that we didn't know our way out of the manor, we decided we had better stay put. We spoke only briefly to each other while we were in that room, partly because we were aware that we might be being listened to and partly due to the fact we both had so much going on in our heads.  
  
The door opened again and in strolled Stan, looking as casual as anything. "Alright then?" he asked, sounding more like he had bumped into us in the Three Broomsticks than at Lord Voldemort's Head Quarters. He laughed at our puzzled expressions before telling us we had to report for 'duty' the next day. We had been accepted. My heart and mind were racing as Stan told us we were the youngest Voldemort had ever taken on. He didn't usually even consider people who hadn't left school. But, due to our high recommendations from Stan and Lucius, who were fast making names for themselves among the Death Eaters, he had agreed to see us. We were later to find out that our being still at school had a lot to do with it. Lord Voldemort had a special job lined up for us: he wanted a spy at Hogwarts, and that was to be us. Albus Dumbledore had become headmaster there five years previously. He, along with the various charms and such on the castle, made Hogwarts highly impenetrable by the Dark Lord and his followers. The only way for them to know what was happening there was by having spies among the students. Rod and I were the first to do this job, but it was later passed on to Bella, Snape, Regulus and Barty Crouch in turn, after we left Hogwarts.  
  
Stan showed us the way out of the manor, leaving us in the entrance hall. No one ever knew how Lord Voldemort acquired this large estate, and nobody ever asked. Stepping out of the darkness of the house, I squinted at the bright sunlight. I gazed around the grounds, trying to get my bearings, and then I turned to Rod, who was grinning. At the time I had no idea why, I suppose it was a release of emotions, but we both started laughing like crazy.  
  
We spent the next few weeks, before returning to Hogwarts, at the Head Quarters. We were far too unimportant for Lord Voldemort to explain things to us; in fact we didn't even see him during that time, so Jugson was given the task. Every Death Eater hated initiating new recruits; it involved lots of explaining and often the most mundane missions. Needless to say, Jugson was less than impressed about being stuck with two sixteen year old boys. He changed his mind, though, when he saw how enthusiastic we were and how much we already knew about the Darks Arts.  
  
So after over two weeks of 'recon' missions, we stood face to face with the Dark Lord again. It was the day before we were to return to Hogwarts and we were in the same room we had met him in before. I remember the words he spoke as if it were only yesterday.  
  
"I am impressed boys, very impressed."  
  
Stepping closer, he took hold of my left arm as he continued to speak.  
  
"I know you won't be able to Apparate to my side yet, but I think you are deserving."  
  
Pushing back the sleeve of my robes, Lord Voldemort pressed his fingers against my skin. I can still remember the burning; it seemed much worse that first time, but I suppose I got used to it over time. The burning was so intense I wanted to pull my arm away, but I forced myself to remain still. Lord Voldemort removed his hand, revealing the Dark Mark. I stood still, staring at it as the Dark Lord turned to Rod and gave him his mark.  
  
"Do you know what these are, boys?"  
  
We both nodded; we had admired Lucius and Stan's when they had received theirs. The Dark Mark continued to darken in colour as he spoke. It also continued to burn, but less intense than before.  
  
"It is a sign of your loyalty to me. It will be with you, just as I will, for the rest of your lives. Remember that."  
  
And I did remember it. Any time in Azkaban, when doubt about the Dark Lord's return entered my mind, the Dark Mark reminded me of his words that day. Just looking at the Mark on my skin told me that he would return to us, that he would free us.  
  
By the time we had got back to the Lestrange Manor, the Dark Marks had started to fade. Rodolphus had proudly shown his arm to his parents, something I knew I would never do. Apart from our obvious difference in opinions about wizard purity and Muggles, I got on well with my parents. I never wanted to hurt or disappoint them so I had decided, even before I had met Lord Voldemort, that I would never tell them about becoming a Death Eater. Back at home that night I had kept my arm well hidden.  
  
I had arrived early at Kings Cross the next day. I hadn't been able to stand being at home any longer, concerned that my parents would see my arm. I had told them I would make my own way to the station and had set off early in the morning.  
  
I sat on my trunk on the deserted platform, relieved to be out of the Muggle world. The Hogwarts Express wasn't even in the station at this time. Eventually, students had started to fill the platform. Bella and Reggie had arrived around the same time as the train. We had found a carriage and Reggie kept watch out of the window for the others. One by one they arrived, Evan and Cade shortly after us and then Snape. We had watched in amusement as Barty tried to avoid his mother's hugs. His father, as ever, wasn't there. Rod had arrived just minutes before the train was due to leave. He had come running down the platform, Stan just behind him with his trunk. His parents appeared through the barrier at the last moment, just as the train set off.  
  
The instant we were out of the station, Rod still trying to catch his breath, Bella started pestering for information about Lord Voldemort. We told them as much as we could about the past few weeks, which wasn't much as most of it was secret. I could tell Bella had been torn between her desire for information and jealousy that she hadn't been a part of it.  
  
"So are you actual Death Eaters, then?" she had asked, the tone of her voice showing that part of her hoped we weren't.  
  
I had looked over at Rod and slowly we had turned back our sleeves to proudly reveal the Dark Mark. Bella had gasped; Reggie nearly fell from his seat in his eagerness to see. Everyone was silent as they looked in awe. I think from that moment on we were held in much higher regard by our friends than ever before. 


	3. Devotion

Chapter Three - Devotion  
  
She looked beautiful, like an angel. All dressed in white, her dark hair hanging loosely round her face. I will always remember how she looked that day, in her wedding dress, telling me how much she loved me. If only it had been me she was marrying.  
  
"I don't want to do this Tony," she had told me quietly as I held her close to me.  
  
"You have to...it's for the best, Bella," I'd heard myself say, all the time silently willing her not to. It was for the best that Bella married Rodolphus.  
  
Their parents, and the noble wizarding society, expected it. Rod and Bella were 'made for each other', apparently. Their parents had been pushing them together since they were small children. But they didn't love each other, not in that way. They both cared deeply for the other, but as friends, as brother and sister.  
  
Bella loved me; and Rod, well, Rod loved himself and his freedom. He had an eye for the girls but he lost interest pretty much as soon as he got them. It was all about the chase for him. And I loved Bella. I had done since the first time I saw her. I had been ten years old. My mum had dragged me on a shopping trip to Diagon Alley. She'd left me outside Quality Quidditch Supplies, gazing in the window at the brooms, while she went in the Apothecaries.  
  
"Out of the way, filthy little Mudblood!" That last word caught my attention. I hadn't heard it before, didn't know what it meant, but I could tell from its context it wasn't something I would be asking my mum to explain.  
  
Who said it I never knew because as I turned to look, my attention was distracted by something else. Bella. Although I didn't know who she was at the time. She was walking down the street, her head held high as if she owned the place. Her hair fell in loose curls, bouncing slightly as she walked. Her beautiful dark robes moved elegantly with her. She would have been nine years old. I simply stood staring at her until my mum's hand on my shoulder brought me out of my daze. I'd asked her who the girl was and Mum had told me she didn't know. I didn't believe her and wondered why she wouldn't tell me.  
  
Soon the girl from Diagon Alley had been put to the back of my mind. I'd forgotten about her, or so I'd thought. Until I saw her again that is, about a year and a half later. I recognised her instantly. We were on Platform 9 ¾. It was her first day at Hogwarts; I was returning to my second year.  
  
It took me over six years to do anything about how I felt. Partly because I thought she would laugh at me and partly because Bella was seen as 'Rod's girl' - off limits. All those years I settled for being her friend until I said something.  
  
Bella and I were sitting in the almost deserted Slytherin common room one evening. We had been talking about after we left school. I only had a few months left at Hogwarts; Bella had a little over a year. It was during this conversation that Bella realised that in under two years she would be married to Rodolphus. She had looked so sad as she told me what she was thinking and I couldn't stand to see her like that.  
  
"Don't marry him," I told her. She had looked at me inquisitively.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I love you," I'd blurted out without thinking. Bella had stared at me in disbelief before she responded in a way I would have never expected. She leaned over and kissed me.  
  
Rod had been ecstatic at this revelation, thinking it'd get him out of the 'arrangement', but we soon came to realise that Bella's family would never accept me. I wasn't from a noble family, I certainly wasn't rich and most of all I wasn't Rodolphus. In their eyes I was probably only slightly better than the Mudbloods and blood traitors.  
  
So here we were, two years later, on their wedding day. The situation was now even more complicated than ever. We'd worked out a plan and we were putting ourselves through it 'for the cause'.  
  
Bella and Rod had both told their parents they weren't going to marry each other, only to be threatened with being cut off from their families. Which meant no money, no regular allowance. The money from their families kept the three of us from having jobs, meaning we could dedicate ourselves to the Dark Lord and His cause. I hated taking money from them both. But they insisted, and I would only ever take enough to buy the necessities. Between them, they made sure I lived as well as they did. Bella would get me things as gifts and Rodolphus would constantly be giving me 'old' robes that I knew he'd never worn. It was never my turn to pay in a pub or restaurant and I stayed at Lestrange Manor more than I was at home.   
  
So the money was a vital issue in our plan. We couldn't carry on without it. Things would be just the same after the wedding, except there would be a house for us all to live in as well. Bella and I would have each other. Rod would be free to do as he pleased. The wedding was purely a financial scam on our part. But it didn't make it any easier for us to go through.  
  
Back in Bella's room at the Black Estate, the door opened and Rod entered wearing a new set of dress robes. He walked over to where I was still holding Bella against me. He placed an arm round both of our shoulders, smiling sympathetically at us. Suddenly Bella whacked him on the arm.  
  
"Rod! Get out! You aren't supposed to see me. It's bad luck," she frowned at him.  
  
"Bella...I think we're beyond bad luck," he had laughed back at her "We need a bloody miracle for this to all go smoothly."  
  
The actual wedding ran pretty well, considering. Bella and Rod's mums took it in turns crying, though Mrs Black alternated her crying with glaring at me with a certain smugness about her. In her eyes it had been my fault Bella nearly hadn't married Rod, which in all fairness was technically true. If only she knew what was really happening.   
  
It was hard to watch the girl I love marry my best friend, but I forced myself to focus on what we were going to achieve by this. Not for one second did I feel guilty about what we were doing. Lies and deceit were all second nature to the three of us by now. We had convinced nearly everyone that the wedding was all for real. Very few people knew the truth.  
  
Lord Voldemort knew everything about his Death Eaters. Sometimes it was like he knew you better than you knew yourself. He could predict how you would react to certain things, what you were going to say. So it was inevitable that He would work out our scam. Which he did. He was the only one we fully told what we were doing and that it was all for his cause, for him. We were fairly sure Stan knew what was happening as well, although we never told him and he never asked. We also assumed that if Stan knew, Lucius did as well. If anyone else was aware then they never said, although some of our fellow Death Eaters probably figured it out over the years after the wedding.  
  
The wedding reception wasn't quite so uneventful, but when you put two families together, arguments and disagreements are bound to happen. Especially two families as unique as the Blacks and the Lestranges. But generally it was just the usual pettiness you come to expect at weddings.  
  
Well into the party, I headed outside for some fresh air, glad to escape the duties of Best Man for a while. Bella must have seen me, as she joined me a few minutes later. We sat on a wall, not daring to even sit close together in case we were seen. As we chatted I felt an odd sensation on my arm which I tried to ignore, hoping I was imagining it. I tried to put it to the back of my mind until Bella asked me what I was doing. I had been scratching and moving my arm without realising. Giving into the feeling, I slowly pulled back the sleeve of my robes, to reveal the blackening Dark Mark which was just starting to burn intensely. Bella had immediately looked down at her own arm but nothing.  
  
I glanced back inside. Numerous Death Eaters were in there; surely I wasn't the only one being called, but nobody was reacting or acting any differently except for Stan and Lucius arguing, which itself wasn't unusual. As I was looking for signs of other Dark Marks burning, Rod came out of the other door, looking questioningly over at me. I glanced down at my arm and nodded reluctantly.  
  
"Not both of you. Not today," Bella had protested. But we had no choice. When the Dark Mark burned, you went. No matter where you were, what you were doing. We both smiled wearily at her, kissed her on the cheek and Disapparated, leaving her to make our excuses.  
  
It was just a simple retrieval mission we had been called for. Something any of the Death Eaters could have done. There had been some reason behind our Lord calling us particularly, but if Lord Voldemort didn't choose to disclose why he had ordered you to do something, then you never knew; you certainly never asked. The mission took us until around noon the next day, so Bella spent her wedding night with neither the one she loved nor the one she married. Maybe that was the reason behind why it had been us sent on that mission. To prove, not only to us but to all of the Death Eaters, that in essence each of us belonged to him.   
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
It was a few weeks before our next 'real' mission. It was a simple plan but one that we would enjoy. Our target: Frank Longbottom. Lord Voldemort wanted him out of the way; he was causing too much trouble for us. Longbottom was an Auror and a very powerful one. I remembered him from school. He was a few years older and had been Head Boy. Longbottom had interfered and ruined too many of our plans over the past few months, and it was now down to us to sort him out. Of course the Killing Curse would have done the job easily, but we had never even contemplated doing just that. We wanted to do something spectacular, and who knew what information we could get out of him.  
  
We had a location on Longbottom, information given to Lord Voldemort by Peter Pettigrew, the spy. Who would have thought that pathetic little Pettigrew, who used to follow Potter around Hogwarts like a lost sheep, would come over to our side. I'm still amazed to this day that Pettigrew was never found out by Dumbledore or his friends. I would never have thought him intelligent enough to pull it off.  
  
I never liked Pettigrew. A few of the others had some sort of toleration for him because he was useful to us, but him being a spy was one of the main reasons I hated him. However useful he was to our cause, to me he would always be a traitor, even though it was our enemies that he was deceiving. If he could sell out his best friends like that, I had no respect for him and absolutely no reason to believe I could trust him.  
  
The plan didn't quite come off as expected. Longbottom hadn't been alone when we ambushed him. Whether it had been a set up or if Pettigrew had gotten the details wrong we never found out. Six of them there had been when we got there. The duelling went on for some time before three of them, including Longbottom, had Disapparated away. One lay in a heap on the ground; the final two still fought on. They took some beating but eventually we had them surrounded. Five of us in a circle, the two of them in the centre, lying on the ground. Their bodies were wasted and broken. We had had our fun with them, found out some potentially useful information with the aid of the Cruciatus curse, and now it was time for them to die. They were both weak, ready to give in living anyway; my fellow Death Eaters had seen to that.  
  
I stepped forward in to the circle, towering over them as I pulled off my mask. It was something I always did before killing someone. I liked to be able to look them in the eye without being obscured by that hood. I liked knowing that my victim knew who I was at the moment they died, and most of all I liked seeing the look on their face when they realised what it meant - that I wasn't bothered about them seeing my face because they very soon wouldn't be able to tell anyone.  
  
The Prewetts. Gideon and Fabian. The amount of trouble those two had caused us over the past few years. The Dark Lord would be glad for us to get rid of them. I pointed my wand at the eldest of the brothers, Gideon, and with a flash of green light his body lay still, no longer trying to get away, no longer trying to fight. I turned to the other brother, re-aiming my wand. I'll never forget the look on his face as he watched his brother die, the realisation dawning as he turned around to face the same fate. A hand had rested on my shoulder just as I was about to cast the Killing Curse. I didn't need to look around to see who it was. Rodolphus stood next to me, still masked. Over the years there had been some rivalry between Rod and the younger Prewett. More than once had Rod nearly been captured as a consequence of something Fabian Prewett had done. I stepped aside slightly, knowing Rod would want to finish this one himself.   
  
"I told you I'd have the last word," Rodolphus laughed as he hit Prewett with the Killing Curse, the body lying still next to that of his brother's. With a final glance at the two bodies, I picked my mask up from the ground, and as Rodolphus conjured the Dark Mark over the scene, I Disapparated back to Head Quarters.  
  
As much as I hated the Death Eater masks, the beauty of them was that unless we got caught in action, nothing could be pinned on a single one of us. The masks meant we were personally anonymous but the Death Eaters as a whole were credited for our murders. That's why I always left it until the last few moments before killing someone to remove the mask. I waited until I was certain my victim couldn't escape. Once the mask came off the victim must die.  
  
That's what I thought I'd done this time, and it wasn't until we arrived back at Head Quarters that I found out otherwise. The body of one of the Aurors had been on the ground behind us as we tortured and eventually killed the Prewetts. I, as everyone else, had assumed him to be dead following the fighting. The other Aurors and Order members had Disapparated, leaving only this one Auror and the Prewetts. It wasn't until the debrief that we realised no one could remember killing him. We could only assume, and hope, that he had been Stunned and had seen nothing. This didn't turn out to be true. Whether he had been Stunned and had come out of the spell without us noticing or whether he had simply been under a body bind curse, we'll never know. What we do know is that by the time the murder of the Prewetts was reported in the Daily Prophet the next day, I had a price on my head. I wasn't named in the paper but it did say that the Ministry knew who was responsible and that they would be hunted down. Rookwood confirmed this on inside Ministry information. I was a wanted man from that day on.   
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Bella had sent me an urgent message to meet her. My mind was whirring, as I Apparated to where she was, thinking what it could be about. She was crying when I got there.  
  
"It's Rod, isn't it," I managed to say. Bella shook her head and told me that as far as she knew Rod was fine. He was on a mission in France but she had spoken to him yesterday through the Floo network.  
  
"It's Reggie," she sobbed. This had puzzled me. Regulus hadn't been sent on a mission for some time before this, not since he had messed up so badly on a simple Muggle killing; how could something have happened to him?  
  
"The Dark Lord, He's ordered me to kill him."  
  
This had shocked me. Not Reggie being killed, not even Reggie being killed on Lord Voldemort's orders. It was inevitable really. It wasn't the first time Reggie had messed up, and it had been plain to see that he didn't want to be part of things anymore. I think he had still believed in the cause, but he couldn't handle things - the killings, the torturing.  
  
"Why me?" Bella had asked me. I hadn't known the answer to this. The only thing I could think of was that Lord Voldemort was using it as a test for Bella, to see how loyal she was to him. It had also served as a warning to all of us: that we had to be prepared to kill anyone for Him, including our own families if necessary. To this day I still don't know what I would have done if I had been in that situation. Could I have really killed one of my family, one of my parents perhaps?  
  
I had held Bella in my arms in an attempt to comfort her as she told me that she had to go and do it right away, no time to come to terms with it, no time to even work out what she was going to do when she got there. There seemed to be no doubt in Bella's mind that she was actually going to do it, but this hadn't made it any easier for her. I even offered to go with her, but Bella had refused. She wasn't supposed to have told anyone, not even Rod, what she was about to do.  
  
Eventually, Bella had risen from where she had been sitting and picked up her wand.  
  
"Wait here for me Tony. I need you here when I get back," she had said as she Disapparated with a loud crack.  
  
So I had sat and waited, feeling guilty that the last time I had seen Reggie, I had had a go at him about exactly the things that were the cause of his imminent death. I'd told him he was being an idiot, which he was, but a naïve, pathetic idiot who hadn't really understood what he was getting into. He hadn't understood that becoming a Death Eater wasn't something you could back out of. You were a Death Eater for life. And he would be. Only his life would end because he stopped being a Death Eater rather than the other way around.   
  
Bella was in a complete state when she returned. She was sobbing as she stumbled over to me, clutching hold of my robes and collapsing into me. I held onto her, and that's how we stayed for a long time, without speaking. I didn't want to push her into telling me what had happened. Eventually Bella looked up at me. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, her face damp with tears.  
  
"Is he...gone?" I asked her. She didn't speak but just nodded. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but at no point have I ever heard Bella say that Regulus was dead or that she killed him. She would always say that he had 'gone'. I might be thinking too much of it, but I sometimes wondered if Bella didkill him that day or if they worked something out and Regulus just disappeared off somewhere. I never asked Bella, I didn't want to know the truth. If I didn't know, I wasn't involved, wasn't responsible for not saying anything to anyone. Besides, I wasn't supposed to know it was Bella that had been sent to dispose of him.   
  
The Death Eaters grew stronger and stronger over year or so, and the Dark Lord was soon at the peak of His reign. Every wizard and witch in the country feared him, feared us, feared his name. It was only a matter of time before Lord Voldemort took over completely. 


End file.
